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Background: The Internet is a significant source of information for adolescents, affecting their life and health. The online Pro Anorexia (Pro Ana) phenomenon is a growing danger. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the presence of the Pro Ana phenomenon in an Italian sample of patients affected by Eating Disorders. Methods: This study is a descriptive cross-sectional analysis that examines two different samples of patients affected by eating disorders at different points in time, in 2017 and 2020. This study was conducted by using a seven item anonymous questionnaire specifically developed by the authors to collect data on knowledge and visitation of websites and Social Networks Sites related to "pro-ana" and "thinspiration" content. Results: More than 80% of the respondents in both samples use the Internet daily. From 2017 to 2020 we observed a rise of the phenomenon among the adolescents of our sample. In 2020, 76% of the patients knew of sites emphasizing a marked thinness as an ideal of beauty, 60% knew of Pro Ana sites and 22% visited them. Conclusions: Our data confirm that in Italy too, Pro Ana is a diffused phenomenon, of which clinicians need to be consistently aware especially when treating adolescents with ED. Patients with ED mainly visit diet and nutrition sites, and it is important to acknowledge this practice in order to prevent and address ED in early adolescence. Although few subjects claim to visit Pro Ana websites, the majority is aware of these sites and therefore they are potential users. Many patients assert that they are familiar with websites promoting excessive thinness as ideal beauty, which supports the bio-psycho-social etiopathogenetic model of Anorexia Nervosa. Information sharing and prevention work are important forms of interventions for families, teachers and clinicians, who together care for adolescent patients with ED.

Nanoparticles are small objects in the scale of nanometres (a billionth of a metre), used for a wide range of applications, including in nanomedicine, as new tools to deliver drugs to diseases. Even though several nanomedicines are currently in the market, in particular for cancer therapy, a clear understanding of how nano-sized materials are processed by cells is often still missing. Only with this knowledge it will be possible to fully exploit nanomedicine potential and design truly targeted nanomedicines. Recently it has emerged that the biological environment in which nanomedicines are dispersed influences remarkably their interactions with cells. In fact, once administrated intravenously, biomolecules present in the blood adsorb onto the nanomaterials, forming a corona layer that confers them a new biological identity. Within this context, this thesis aims to characterize how nanomedicines are recognized and internalized by cells. We show that, depending on the serum content, the recognition of nanomedicines at the cell membrane can be mediated by specific cellular receptors interacting with corona proteins. Furthermore, the serum content and the resulting coronas also affect how these materials are internalized by cells. Next, we have optimized and combined different methods to characterize the mechanisms of uptake of nanomedicines, with a particular focus on the mechanisms of membrane curvature generation. We show that multiple mechanisms might be involved and curvature proteins also play a role. Finally, we show that the organization of cells into a barrier affects nanoparticle uptake, suggesting that more complex cell models should be used to characterize nanomedicines in the laboratory.